Thursday, September 25, 2008

Blog #4 - 13 Virtues

Benjamin Franklin wrote the 13 Virtues of man in his Autobiography.
Which of these two virtues are the most important to society?

60 comments:

MariaCristina said...
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MariaCristina said...

For me, the two most important virtues Benjamin Franklin stated are SINCERITY and JUSTICE. He stated that sincerity was not to use hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. In justice he said to wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
I agree with he's way of portraying sincerity because it's not to be completely honest, but to speak moderately without giving out otrageous lies. I also agree with justice, because it states everyone's rights and that no one has the right to do wrong.
By following these two virtues, society would become much more cooperative.

wanda said...

The 13 virtues by Benjamin Franklin have each their own importance. But for every individual, he/she might consider one more important than the other. I believe order and justice are the most outstanding. These two are the ones that form our society today. Order lets thing fall to their places, having their own time. Without it, people would not have priority or minorities, otherwise they will focus on many things at once, and not do their best on all. Justice, in the other hand, provides rights and also promotes order. With it right and wrong are given differences. Justice introduces moral to the people, thus allowing a better society and state of mind.

Moises said...

for me i think its jusice and sincerity because if no ones sincere there world would suck because its just lies and cheeting , and justice to because if you do something bad you have to get punished

marcel said...
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marcel said...

i believe that the two most important virtues are moderation and sincerity. in moderation, he said "avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve." i believe that this virtue is important since everything in life has to have a limit. you have to be able to control yourself and not to go to the extreme. although you believe that a person deserves a big punishment for what he or she did to you, you should not go to the extreme. on the other hand there is this other virtue called sincerity, benjamin said: "use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly." i believe that this is another important virtue. if a person is going to say something, that person must say it with no intention on hurting the other person. also if you criticize something, a quality someone has or else, that critique must be for the good of that person, contributing on something good for that other person.

marcel said...

macri: i also agree with you, sincerity is a very important virtue. on the other hand, justice, although i agree that this is a very important virtue we all know that this is something surreal, this virtue is something that everybody wants but never gets to have. you have the option of being just or not, and the majority of the people say they are or want to be, but they are not.

Adriana said...

I think that the 2 most important virtues are justice and moderation. "Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve." Justice is very important because without this virtue people would do wrong things without caring, and the world would be a mess with people like this. Moderation is also vey important because NOTHING is good in extreme. You have to know the limits and control yourself.

Adriana said...

Moises: i dont think sincerity is that important, because if there is justice people will learn to be sincere.
;D

LyanneSantana said...

I belive that tranquility and resolution. People has to have self control and self disipline. People need to stay calm in hard situations and problems that may come up. A person cannot prosper if he is always irretated and angry about small thing that happen in life.
A person needs to be commited to what he does. He needs to be compromised and achive what he promises.

LyanneSantana said...

Macri, I belive that sincerity and justice are very important virtues that people need, but, in modern society that practicly doesnt exist. Politicians put their friends in command eventhough they are not the best for the stand, even teachers have always a favorite student and one that he doesnt like that much. I dont think that is just.

Ernesto said...

For me, the two most important virtues that Benjamin Franklin stated are sincerity and order. I believe this because you need to be sincere in order to prevent tricking yourself into doing bad things, also you need it to speak accordingly in the situation you are. I also believe in order because you need to have organization and a time to do everything, that way your are going to find life a little more easy and do things taking your time, not always rushing because you don't know what to do.

Anonymous said...

I believe that the two mos important virtues Benjamin Franklin stated are:Justice and Moderation. About justice he sayed that you should not aggravate someone out of pleasure, or ill benefit of your duty. About Moderation he said to never go to extremes, only meaning by this that you should only punish someone to the point that they deserved, not more. These would help society because with a clear meaning of this justice one can measure how moderate one shoul be on punishment, and thus this would make the people understant their actions.

Anonymous said...

Ernesto, I find it very hard not to agree with you, since you make a good point, when you are sincere you don't trick others into doing for your benefit only, but for everyones. And if there is order society will be able to progres better and faster.

Ernesto said...

Salvador I mostly agree with the part of justice,but that moderation is one of the most important virtues I don't agree that much. I say this because being moderate not only means that people will be punished fairly (which is not bad), but also means that peole won't be able to take risks which make up the best things in life. It says that people shpuld live life not at their max.

Ernesto said...

Salvador, thank you for those comments. You know, you made me tkink in awhole new way; but now I realized that yes, a little order can help progress a lot in society. You also made a good point in the part of justice and the part that you said that moderation is good for punishing people fairly. I only had that little point of argument.

Anonymous said...

Well, I beg to differ, it says to not take extremes, and to avoid resentment. Not taking extremes doesn't mean not to take risks, it means to not be, to put an example, niether too funny or too serius, be in the middle. But you can perfectly take your risks.

JavierAude said...

I believe that the teo most important virtues that Benjamin Franklin wrote were order and moderation. Order is the most important virtue in my opinion. Order expresses that everything has its time and place. This virtue can be applied to all aspects of life, to every action you do. There is a time and place to joke around, and there is a time and place to be serious and studious like at school.

Moderation is basically to avoid extremes. Nothing in extreme is good, life must have a balance. There is always a time to study and be serious, but you also must be able to relax with your firneds and family. If you study in extreme you might become stressed out and have a socially margined life. On the other hand if you only relax, and take life the easy way you might not be succesful in your life, and not reach your dreams. To really reach a dream that is worth something your have to make an effort a fight for it. That why you also need a dose of responsability.

Moises said...

adriana:yes but youll need sincerity becuse for there to be justice there has to be some sincerity in a sence.

Moises said...

ernesto: i agree with you you made me rethink and yes you need organization because its essencial in everything you do.

Cristina said...

i believe that the two most important virtues that franklin stated are honesty and order. they are the most important becuase if a person is honest, the others will get to know the real you and if they have order, they will always be on track and not have things all over the place

Cristina said...

LYANNE: i dont agree with what you say about tranquility becuase if a problem comes up and if the person is too tranquil that is not the attitude that has to be used, they have to be agresive or such.

Elaine Carlson said...

Benjamin Franklin wanted to be an exceptional moral person. With help of others he wrote 13 virtues, in order of difficulty, that would portray this moral man. Every virtue is important, but in my opinion moderation and frugality. With moderation he wanted to say that never go to extremes, which is important because we know that anything on the extreme is very wrong. With frugality, he simply said that use your time wisely, if you are going to do something it has to benefit you, or others.

Marcos Jose Rodriguez said...

The two most important virtues that Benjamin Franklin started are Moderation and Justice. Moderation because when there is moderation there will olaso be respect, and therefore peace.

Justice is the second most important, because, even thought moderation can lead to peace, and happyness, there can also be mistakes, mistakes that may be very unfair. If there is justice, those mistakes won't be a problem.

Marcos

Tony said...

Justice and Order are the 2 most important viertues. They both relate in a way that they allow humans to live together. Which is the basis of human society. People should all be able to live together without many disputes. Justice applied strictly will bring order and order will bring peace.

LyanneSantana said...

Can you imagine a world without people beeing tranquil, people just shouting and acting like animals. If people dont have tranquility they will react in an agressive way and the world will be a disaster. Without self control people will kill or hit others for just a littel problem.

LyanneSantana said...

Cristina, order is important, but can you have order without tranquility? People will be all over the place!

Marcos Jose Rodriguez said...

ELAINE:

Moderation can lead to frugality, but not to justice.

For me (but I'm right), frugality comes when there is moderation. But Justice doesn't. There can be MISTAKES that can only be resolved with justice.

Marcos Jose Rodriguez!

Manuel Perez said...

Marcel: I do believe that you are correct in the sense that sincerity is one of the most important traits. Without it people will not trust you or like you, and not being sincere will weigh on your concience and get you in trouble. However, I don't think moderation is so important since one can resent people when they deserve it.
No, I think the second important value should be humility, because the only reason to accomplish all the other virtues is by recognizing that one is not perfect and must correct their flaws.

Elaine Carlson said...

Marcos, I agree with you in Moderation. But I believe that Frugality is slightly more important because, if people did not waste time and or did things that could benefit others, their there would be no need for justice since it would be fair.

Tony said...

Marco I believe that order must come before modertation. People should be in a state in which the don't interfere with other people before they are thinking where to eat or drink much.

Coki said...

i believe that sincerity and justice are the most important traits. i say this because i believe that someone has to be sincere because by doing this, you can help in many ways, people will know what really happens instead of not knowing because someone said- i fell from the 101st floor and didnt have a scratch- people will know the or a true version of what has happened, will happen or what is happening. i say justice is very important because eacch one has to pay for what each one did. and also, you need justice because its fair this way, for example: someone commits murder, and they sentence him 5 years and you steal a salchichon and they give you 10 years, that is not fair.

Ana Gonzalez said...

I think the two important virtues that Benjamin Franklin are Moderation and sincerity. Justice because without justice the world would be a chaos, and without sincerity they're will be no one to you could count on.

Cristina said...

lyanne: but if they are tranquil all the time, when a situation comes up when you have to be alert and agresive what will the tranquil people do? they are just going to sit there and wait for the trouble to come?

Elaine Carlson said...

Marcos I disagree with you because moderation doesn't lead to frugality, moderation is another diferent concep meaning not going to extremes. How does that lead to not waisting time and doing things that benefit for other or yourself? They can be related but moderation does not lead to frugality.

marcel said...

manuel: okay, you can resent people when they deserve it, but not to the extreme. you will punish that person, more or less balances to what that person did to you. not more than that, since it would be an abuse.

Cristina said...

lyanne: you CAN have order without tranquility, tranquility is mostly in one person, order is in a whole crowd

jacopo said...

I believe that the 2 most important vitues are CHASTITY and ORDER.
Chastity because you, as a person, have to overcome sexual desire. And order because disorganization is the base of stress, and when you organize yourself you know where all your stuff are and you know everything that you have to do so that make all forms of stress vanish.

Coki said...

Ernesto, i believe you are right in saying sincerity is very important but i believe that justice is more important than order because justice includes order :D

Manuel Perez said...

I agree, but just the way you say it, since wrongs should be countered with equal wrongs, extremes would be balanced by extremes. However, what you are now talking about is justice, since you talk of abuse and unfair treatment.

Ana Gonzalez said...

Lyanne: I agree with you, but in part i don't, because tranquility is not necessary, or that important.

Coki said...

i do not agree with moderation javier because even though it is important, i believe that there are things more important than moderation, like for example: sincerity and frugality among other ;D

Arantxa Chahin said...

Wanda alctually all the virtues for him were very important but actually in real life the to virtues that can really aply to our daily life is Moderation and Sincerity.

Arantxa Chahin said...

Benjamin Franklin wrote all these virtues in acordance to what he get better with. I think that two most important virtues that can be applied to everyone are moderation and sincerity. he said thatModeration: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. Because many people now cant control themselves. He also said Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

LyanneSantana said...

Jacopo, do you think that there are more important virtues than Chastity?

wanda said...

ARANTXA: I do believe that sincerity is one of the most important virtues. But moderation is not that important, it just reflects on self-control. But justice is needed for order in this society, for it is what tells between what is right and what is wrong.

wanda said...

MARCOS: i do agree with you on JUSTICE, but what about SINCERITY? I mean, sincerity is important for our society as a whole and it is not easy to accomplish for no one is 100% sincere. Still it forms our lives today. On the other hand, moderation can be stated only to those who do not have self-control.

Arantxa Chahin said...

Your right wanda , justice is a good virtue but ypu need to have moderation , in other words self control, so when problems come you take it clamly and not get out of control where an injustice can can happend and later justice will need to come to solve the problem. so actually everything starts with moderation.

Carla said...

Benjamin Franklinhad 13 virtues, some more important than others to society. The twomost important virtues concerning society are temperance andmoderation. Temperance because it is the basis for developing all theother traits and moderation because in life and society everythingmust be taken in moderate amounts avoiding extremes.

Carla said...

Maria Cristina, don't you think that not being comppletely honest is actually a form of lying? And even if it is a small lie, don't you think that in covering up that lie you would eventually create a bigger lie? I disagree with you view about sincerity being one of the ost important traits sonce it is contradictory. Franklin said that it must not be used to hurt people's feelings yet he said that people shouldn't lie to protect other's feelings either. And everybody that lying by omission is still a lie.

JavierAude said...

Carla:
I must disagree with you because meoderation is not that important of a trait. AMong the other virtues mentioned mederation is mentioned in a subliminal and indirect way. The same happends with temperance.

MariaCristina said...

Marcel, I know that justice is surreal and that hardly ever people get to achieve complete justice but we are mentioning the virtues that are most important in life, regardless of their difficulty. And even though justice is hard to reach, it definitely would make society better.

Carla, I understand what you say ut I think that what Franklin was saying is that you shouldn't lie at all and you shouldn't use honesty as an excuse to hurt other's feelings. That you should know when to talk and that if there is no ither choice, you should tell the truth regardless of hurting someone's feelinigs or not. Of course, it really depends on the way you actually say the tings whether the other people will be hurt or not.

JavierAude said...

Coki you may be right, now that i analiza again the virtues moderation is not that important as a social trait, it is of more use as a personal trait. And i also agree that sincerity i very imporatant because it should be what the perfect society is baesd on.

Carla said...

Javier:
What you say is not entirely true. Although sincerity and moderation come in pairs with most of the virtues mentioned by Benjamin Franklin, but they are never really mentioned indirectly.

Carla said...
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Carla said...

Maria Cristina, it doesn't matter how Benjamin Franklin felt or meant about the way he expressed the virtue of sincerity. I think that it is practically impossible to be completely honest, but I do understand what you say and I think that it would be great to be able to be honest with others. The only problem is that it wouldn't be realistic to think it will ever happen.

Teacher Yorch said...

Blog Assignment #4 is closed!

Memo said...

For me the most important virtue Benjamin Franklin stated were order and justice. Order because without not even the best idea is going to work, thinks would be done in such a way that it will uneficient. order comes from civiliced people and from the people who can make thinks work on their way. Without a paved path, car would have trouble to pass.
Justice is the power of the good people to correct the wrong. Justice give faith and hope to those who believe that doing the correct thing is good, give those who actually do good wealth not only economically, but emocianally.

Moises said...

memo: i believe your right with justice but there also other factors that without them you cant have justice.

Memo said...

Wanda i disagree with you. i dont believe sincerity is one of the most important. Sometimes people have to hide things to save those who you really love, and when you have to sacrifice for someone, you obliviate the truth so those that you care don't suffer.